How rappers got their names

Childish Gambino

Donald Glover, the Emmy Award-winning creator of "Atlanta," is also a rapper. His alias, Childish Gambino, can be traced back to using a popular online name generator during his sophomore year of college.

Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj was born Onika Tanya Maraj.

In an interview with the Guardian, Minaj said,"One of the first production deals I signed, the guy wanted my name to be Minaj and I fought him tooth and nail. But he convinced me. I've always hated it."

Credit: Jamie McCarthy

Cardi B

Belcalis Almanzar has one of the hottest songs of the year in "Bodak Yellow."

"My name is Belcalis. Growing up people called me Bacardi cause my sister (sic) name is Hennessy (sic) ..FYI."

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Drake

Born Aubrey Graham, Drake is the Canadian-born rapper's middle name.

Credit: Kevin Winter

Iggy Azalea

The Australian rapper first went by her birth name, Amethyst Amelia Kelly.

Her stage name came as a "two-part saga," according to the artist. Her dog was named Iggy, and Azalea was the street that her family lived on.

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Wiz Khalifa

Cameron Jibril Thomaz told MTV that when he was growing up, he was good at everything, and people started saying "he's a young wiz."

He added that "Khalifa is Arabic for success or leader. And my granddad is Muslim, so he gave me that name."

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Jay-Z

Born Shawn Carter, Jay-Z was known as "Jazzy" growing up. He later changed his name to Jay-Z to honor his mentor, Jaz-O.

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2 Chainz

Rapper Tauheed Epps originally went by "Tity Boi" but changed to 2 Chainz to be more "family friendly," per a 2012 interview with SiriusXM's Shade 45.

Epps later told HipHopDX that the name also represents a "second chance."

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M.I.A.

Mathangi Arulpragasam has said that her stage name was inspired by a missing cousin.

"I wanted to make a film about where he was, since he was M.I.A. in Sri Lanka," Arulpragasam said in her 2012 autobiography. "I was also living in Acton at the time. So I was living in Acton looking for my cousin missing in action."

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Earl Sweatshirt

In an interview with New York-based media company Mass Appeal, Thebe Neruda Kgositsile said he chose his name at random.

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Rae Sremmurd

Originally the Ear Drummers, the Mississippi rap duo decided to flip their name backwards to become Rae Sremmurd, according to an interview with XXL Magazine.